Kim In-kyung Finishes Second at Wegmans Open

“Today just wasn’t my day.”

It is said that in golf, nothing is certain until a player takes off his or her gloves. Kim In-kyung, 19, had a three-stroke lead until the 16th hole on the last day of the competition, and it looked like her dream of winning her first U.S. Ladies Professional Golf Association (LGPA) title was going to come true. Even if the world’s top player, Lorena Ochoa (Mexico) was close behind in second place.

Kim even managed to sink a 4-meter birdie chance on the 17th hole (Par5). But after this, things began to get complicated. While Ochoa’s 6-meter eagle putt found its way into the cup, Kim In-kyung missed a birdie. All of a sudden, Ochoa was only one stroke behind. On the 18th hole (Par4) with 112 yards remaining, Kim chose an 8-iron, a longer club than usual, and sent her second shot past the green, but landed her third shot to stop 1.5m from the cup. Ochoa finished the hole with a par, so Kim In-kyung would have been able to defend her win by making a par save. Although she putted carefully, checking her ball line-up, the downhill putt hit off the right side of the cup and left Kim tied with Ochoa. With Kim suddenly having lost her chance of victory and Ochoa dramatically emerging from behind, the result of the play-off that followed the contrasting sentiment of the two players was obvious.

The Wegmans Tourney came to a close on June 25 at the Locust Hill Country Club (par 72) in Pittsford. In the final round, Kim finished 72 strokes at even par and tied with Ochoa, who finished tied at 8-under par 280 with Kim. In the second hole of the sudden death round, Kim finished as the runner-up.

Kim In-kyung who recorded her greatest score so far on the LPGA Tour, said, “I tried my best but it wasn’t enough. I wanted to secure my win so I tried to reach for more, but this has been a good experience for me and I won’t make the same mistakes again next time.”

On the first hole of the playoff, Kim matched Ochoa with a par, but on the second hole of the sudden death round at the 10th hole, she made it to the green after three strokes but failed to make a 4.5-meter putt for par. Meanwhile, Ochoa, who landed her third shot 60cm away from the cup, saved par and claimed the trophy.

Ochoa who has struggled in playoff rounds in the past, losing all four times she had gone to sudden-death, won her first playoff victory and claimed her third win of the season. She took home prize money worth 270,000 dollars.

Kim Mi-hyun (KTF) made a bogie on the 18th hole and trailed the leading group by one stroke to finish the tournament in third place (7-under 281).

kjs0123@donga.com